Rolling Prairie Acres Farm

2009-07-25T18:21:00.003-05:00

This is our alfalfa meal/fish meal tea brewing system.

There is a pump keeping the tea circulating
We use the tea as a fertilizer it is a high source of nitrogen

Our strawberry bed just renovated with our BSC machine

it is necessary to renovate to increase vigor and plant health

One of our honey bees pollinating a squash flower

Our junior bee keeper Dawson!

2009-07-25T18:07:00.002-05:00

This is the walk-in cooler using an air
conditioner and the Coolbot Here's some of this years strawberry crop

Here's a good picture of the Coolbot and

air conditioner

In June which was really warm we saved 18 kilowatts

a day over our previous floral cooler

2009-07-25T17:56:00.002-05:00

BCS machine with 26 inch tiller
renovating strawberries

BCS is an Itailian walk behind PTO driven tractor

that can accept hundreds of front and rear attachments

Handle bars do a 180 degree turn so you can walk beside the

machine, and you can take front and rear PTO attachments

2009-07-25T11:50:00.019-05:00

We are sorry it has been so long since we last blogged but this spring was very crazy. We started CSA and farmers market the first week of May. This year we are attending market and Fairfield CSA on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Plant sales were very good this spring with alot more people gardening themselves. We planted 1500 tomato plants this year, of over 300 varieties. All the rain we had in June made it very hard to plant everything. It was also very hard on the strawberry crop, some of the berries started to rot before they even were ready.

The wet June also delayed us planting our bell peppers by 2 weeks. The day we finally planted them it rained 2 inches. They looked terrible, they were standing in water and they were yellow. We thought we were going to lose them all. Then we put some fish meal around them and within 2 days they started to turn green and look healthy. In late June we had early blight starting to so up on our tomatoes, so we started to pick the blight off the plants.

Early this spring we built a walk in cooler. We framed in a corner of our garage to make a 5 by 11 room. We put 2 inches of foam insulation on the out side and inside and put R-13 insulation in the walls. we insulated the whole room with 2 inches inside and outside we also put R-19 in the floors. For the cooling unit we used a 12,000 BTU air conditioner with a computer(coolbot) hooked to it that over rides the air conditioner. It works great, it hardly runs at all with the insulation we put in th cooler. Our cooler is 5 times bigger than our old one and uses half the energy.

This spring we realized that we need to make raised beds to improve our drainage and our soil quality. So we decided to purchase a walk behind tractor. We bought a BCS machine with a rotary plow to make raised beds. The reason we went with BCS is because it is its own company not owned by MTD. We are tired of messing around with MTD junk. We also got a tiller with our BCS. The BCS machine is a big investment but it is worth the money, it will last for 20 years our more. The rotary plow works amazing for making raised beds, and the tiller works great. In 2 passes you can have soil ready to plant.

Experimenting with rope lighting as a heat mat

2009-04-06T12:00:00.004-05:00

Using rope lighting raises the soil temperature 10 degrees and is very inexpensive. Don't use LED rope lighting because it dosen't produce heat.

Salad greens in the hoop house

2009-04-06T11:49:00.002-05:00

These were planted the first week of March. We have been harvesting them for 2 weeks now.

The greenhouse is filling

2009-03-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

We are going crazy planting in the greenhouse. The peppers, eggplants, onions, and herbs are all coming up. Most of the tomatoes are planted, we just have to plant the cherry tomatoes this afternoon. This year we tried something a little different, we are using more plug trays instead of soil blocking. So far they have worked good. We have never had peppers and eggplants up so fast. This year we will have lots of plants to sell in Fairfeild and Sigourney. We hope to have extra produce availible as well, if you remember last year wasn't a good year for the vegetables.

Our Fairfield CSA shares are full, but we still have some spots available in Sigourney.

We are sorry about the long time since the last post, but we have been very busy, with the farm and with homeschooling. We have also been busy pruning trees and fruit this spring. Mom has been busy trying to get the supplies ordered. Also this spring we will be getting around 150 laying hen chicks and 30 turkeys. With these birds plus the ones we hatch this spring we should have eggs nad turkeys for sale. These are all heritage and heirloom breeds and we intend to hatch our own next year. Mom is also working on getting a loan to make moveable "pasture houses" for them.

Our bees are doing good, 4 of the 6 hives survived the winter. The 4 hives that made it we are feeding surup, each hive last week ate 2 quarts. In a few weeks we should be getting 2 more hives.

Getting Ready for 2009!

2008-12-20T09:27:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the long time since we last posted, we have been very busy this fall.

We are getting ready for the 2009 growing season! We have most of our seeds and supplies already purchased. There are a few new varieties we are going to buy

We are currently filling our 2009 CSA shares. We have a few shares on open Saturday mornings in Fairfield and a few open on Monday evenings in Sigourney.

In November we traveled to the National Small Farm Conference in Colombia, Missouri. We gained many new ideas on how to raise the best vegetables and fruits we can. We are going to plant many more elderberries, we also received some new experimental varieties from the University of Missouri.

Back at home, the 09 garlic crop is in the ground, and the strawberries are tucked in for the winter. The seed catalogs are coming in, and there are many new varieties we are going to get.

Dalton is also looking at some new strawberry varieties.

We are also trying to keep the deer out of our orchard. We have a couple tricks to help with this though, so far we haven't had very many problems. The young trees did very good this year we only lost 15 out of 200. The trees grew any where from 6 inches to 2 feet this year.

Our bee hives did very well this year, we harvested close to 100 pounds of honey. We kept all of that for us. They are all ready for winter, we will see how they fared the winter in the spring.

Sunday on the Farm

2008-09-08T18:23:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, September 21 we are hosting a Buy Fresh Buy Local "Sunday on the Farm " tour our farm loacated at 708 Ringgold St. in Sigourney. The tour will be from 2-4 pm, With potluck to follow at 4:15. Please bring a dish to share, table service, and a chair. Strawbales and mint water will be provided.

Castleridge Bluegrass Band will be performing off and on from 2-6. Parking at public library and H+M parking lots, and walk up the hill. ( Handicap parking at farm) Please join us!!!

It's still raining!

2008-06-08T12:06:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the delay in our flog(farm blog), we have been busy working in the greenhuuses in between the rain storms. The good thing about all this rainy weather is that we don't have to irrigate all the fruit trees that we planted this spring.

Every tree is leafing out and doing quite well. We have gotten all the 1st planting of tomatoes in and the peppers, eggplants and more plantings of greenbeans. The cool crops like lettuce, brocoli and cabbage are all doing well with the cool weather.

The strawberries are starting to really get going! We picked 58 quart this morning before going to church. Check out our strawberry pictures!

We have planting in the garden! But more rain in the forecast :(

2008-05-09T22:51:00.002-05:00

During the last few days, we have been able to plant seeds and transplant in the gardens. We have gotten the following crops in the ground: green beans, broccoli, cabbage, cilantro, kales, lettuce, endive, more onions, beets, radishes, more late arrival strawberries, and we did get 127 fruit trees planted last Saturday and Sunday. Doug started some Orka in the greenhouse and transplanted them out, wonder how that will work out? We also have some cucumbers that we transplanted into the low tunnel. We made a fast trip last weel to Western Iowa to pick up our fruit trees from Dimtar's Orchard. What great trees we got! Most are leafing out already. The bees are enjoying the pear, cherry, peach and apple blossoms.

We are of to late but good start. We will recieve the rest of the fruit/nut trees next week. This will total around 300-400 new plantings for this year. This forced us to make some adjustments in pasture for the sheep flock. We will be reducing the flock later this summer as this is not a profitable venture any more with increase feed costs. Dalton while choring this afternoon found one our laying hens with little baby chicks following her around. This is a first for us to have a "broody"hen. What a neat find. First there was three and then we found the rest, totaling 8. We will see how see does with them. Tanya has 19 baby turkeys and countless Welsummer chicks that we are hatching from our own flock. Nice to be self reliant for new laying stock! No more hatcheries!

We had the chance to visit Sawmill Hollow Aronia berry organic farm last week, what a place to be! They have over 13,000 aronia berries planted and offer the most unique jams, salsas, and BBQ sauces. We are starting our own plantings here in eastern Iowa with the intention of wine and jelly production. Tanya brought home one of every product that the sell. Thumbs up on these products.

We will try to get some pictures loaded of the new plantings soon.....

The past few weeks.....

2008-04-20T18:45:00.003-05:00

On Thursday, the 11th we recieved torrential rain as evening storms brewed up a gully washerunlike any thing we ahave ever seen!

We knew after that, it would be a while until we set foot in the gardens. Knowing that one of our large fruit plant order had just arrived and more berries were on the wayhad us nervous. Luckly, we scouted out a dry place on Wednesday and Dalton's plan"B" for his strawberries went into play.

We hustled with the forecast of Thursay rain, and made homes for Dalton's 1800 strawberry crowns. Wow what a day! We were able to get all the orders in the ground (a humbling experience) except the 300 asparagus that need to be planted.

It rained until Saturday with another 3" inchs add too the 2 earlier. The gardens are quite wqater logged. I have never before notice the earth worms making so much noise when I walk in the gardens.

We have been busy getting the greenhouses under control as we wait for the soil to dry. WE are tranplanting our offerings for the Every Other Friday Plant Sale starting this Fridayat the farm.

We are hopefu that this week will hold a much drier forecast. But we still have lots to do.

Here is a list of new addition to the farm: Good Eatin!

Himtop, Joan J Fall Red Raspberries, Lauren, Prelude, Encore Primocane Red Raspberries, Chickasaw Black Raspberries, 1800 Strawberries,

More Rhubarb crowns, currents, gooseberries, cranberries, and Lingdon berries.

Check out the pictures...

Spring has us scurrying!!!!

2008-04-03T20:25:00.003-05:00

Last week, Tanya and I were able to attend the National SARE in Kansas City,, with the help of the Leopold Center and Chipolte's Resturants. It was good to see what other substainable farmers are doing. We ran into some old friends and made new ones. We are busy on the farm, we have the two greenhouses full with seedlings and one hoop full of onions waiting to be transplanted out.
We are expecting the bees to come in from California very soon, as well as the fruit trees that we are going to plant this spring. We have moved some fences and taken some down in order to get the pastures lined up to plant trees. The berries and the fruit trees have been trimmed. The three hoophouses have been renovated and seeded and await several "babies" ~ transplants growing in the greenhouse like early basil, and radicchio, lettuce and other greens. We have so much left to do. But as we sit through a rainy afternoon tidying up the house and doting on our new baby chicks that we brought home from Orcshelns today, I am reminded that God makes each day exciting and new. We are making steady progress and are really starting to "spin plates" quite alot around here. Some inevetably will crash to the ground. We are getting as good as showman Deiter " I forget his last name" ( Think it is Thomas ) that I once marveled at during a Tommy Bartlett show some years ago. It dawned on me a few years ago that what he does on stage is no more difficult than a day on the farm raising 4 children. Que Serra!

We are making plans for a busy weekend getting caught up before we head to the Spring Indoor Market the next 3 weekends before the start of the Fairfield Farmer's Market. We have many eggs to sell, as well as to finish filling up our CSA lot for Fairfield Saturday pick ups. We will have lamb in a few weeks , as well! The boys and I are making plans for Every Other Friday Plant Sales starting April 25th and following , you guessed it~ every other Friday, falling on May 9th, 23rd and wrapping up on June 6th. Folks from around here can stop at the farm from 3-6pm on those days and find some rare, unique and just plain irresistable plant finds of the herb and vegetable front! We are just begining to transplant and will be ready with respective plants offered near their intended planting time. So, we are definately not hibernating around here anymore! Just a reminder for all of this folks who missed our King Corn viewing in March, IPBS will be showing it for you on Tuesday April 15th. You really must see this film!!

Spring Flowers

2008-02-23T17:05:00.003-06:00

Today we dug up our spring bulbs that we put in the ground last November.
They will go into the greenhouse and hopefully be ready for Easter. Check out the pictures below to see how and where we placed the pots in the ground.
Nice to be out in 32 degree weather for a change!

2008 planned expansion projects

2008-02-15T21:13:00.002-06:00

We are currently working on the planning stages of our planned 2008 expansions. We are planning on increase orchard plantings by 125 trees. Peach, apples, pear, cherries, plums will be included. Dalton is working on his 10 varieties of strawberries on 1/8 of an acre. Drayce is planting chestnuts, hazelnuts, paw paws, medlars, asian pears and persimmons. Tanya is working on a way to increase salad green production for the farm. Doug still is working on developing the 30 varieities of garlic and shallot production.

Welcome to RPA

2008-02-01T19:44:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Rolling Praire Acres !

We are getting started setting up this site to keep you informed of our farms activities. We currently have the onion seed planted in the green house and are ordering berries, apple, pear, peach, and many other fruit trees. We have also started lambing and have a nice group of lambs on the ground. We have started to trim the fruit trees and brambles as well as working on ordering the rest of the seeds needed for this spring.

The family got to enjoy the Practical Farmers of Iowa annual conference and just got home from the Iowa Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association conference.

In March Tanya and Doug will be off to Kansas City to the Substainable Agriculture Research and Education(SARE) conference. Thanks to The Leopold Center!

We are currently taking CSA applications for Sigourney and for Fairfield. We are expaning our CSA this year and taking on more shares in Fairfield.

More updates later